Polishing disk



Sept 14, 1943- K. F. SCHLEGEI., JR 2,329,222

POLISHING DISK Filed Jan. 6, 1942 BYC .u bl/S,

Ls ATTORNEYS i quality and Patented Sept. `1,4, 1943 j l :if: j

v The Schlegel Manufacturing Companoch- ,f ester, a corporatonpof NewYork' This invention' relates toy afflexible polishing',

member preferablyinv thefform of a disk' adapted to bemounted-'on `a rotating'rarb'or and; While'rotating'; to be applied againstthefaceof the article to be polished,v l`such as ametal sheet.k

For vgreatest usefulness inp'olishing curved surf, faces (particularly surfaces having concave curvaturesl polishing disks shouid'have relatively y great liiexibility, so that theylm'ay readily confornito thefcurvature of the fsu-'rfac'e' being lpo'l' uis -ffieece-gmembers, {nei-ssii? ini-iis cessione@ ity-of 'the aforementionedchejractristic but also yin ybeing* llighter as Well'as stronger than? thenatural article andinihavingfif desir-edfa ber den@ vrsity greater than: that avai-labl'in the mostdens'e nsiurai'prriauci; i

l 1A rurther'f-obieci is 'ine-prvision fof 'an 'figs-isiicial'eece #polishing disk i sodesigned and y'conished. lAmong the klexiloler polishing disks in use arey those of natural sheepskin With fleece -rei maining thereon. Fleece faced sheepskin, when.

the iieece is` of high quality#I uniformly jthroughout the entire face area of the diskjformslonefof,

the` most satisfactory polishing disks heretofore* known, for finishing highlyfpolished metaL'e'nam- .y

eled, or 'lacqueredA surfaces', tile surfacesyf'andf other surfaces gienerallygf either plane orlirregularinr-shape, Where a l'iig'hlylpolishednfinish"is`l desired. 'These natural eece vpolisl-iing disks have the serious disadvantage, however', thatthf qu'alityand other characteristics offthekdisk can is'lfiirig` faCe of the-disk-'have -aj greater tendency to` stand *upf in'af desirable 'nap orv pile'tlifan` is the' casewitlfitheffwool vibe'rsof a natural fleece ydisk i i i not be controlled. Unavoidablythe're are'greatY variations in `lenetlri of wo'olvfber, quality of ber,

density or closeness of'fpack'ing of fiber, and

strength andexibilty' ofthe `skin baseorbackgy Y ing., notronly amongdisks cut from the 'ski`nsoff different sheep, |and between disks'cutfroin dif-v ferent parts of the sarnefsheepskin,A but even 'on- Y dierent parts of the sameindividual disk. fSuchl natural and,uncontrollablevariations,` coupled e A still furtherobject is the provision ofi-a vdisk y which;r because of the fcontrollability l'off"the--v'a1 ious lichara'oteristics-fis'hetterbalanced for high v i speed ,rotation'fthan' naturali-fleece! disks;y #i

sis-'Ifotliese and other ends the invention Iresides-V :irrfi'ze'rtain: improvements.' and 4icomiiiinati'ons `ci" parts, 1all ylas Twill -be hereinafter .more vfully-fides scribed, 1. fthe lnovel features be'ing pointed kout/'in Y cin'dance 4 .with a .preferrd ii'emb'odi'ment `vof the invention, .withsparts broken-away lto show the construction.;beneath,and is; Qi Fi'g.V 251s a ,diametrical'asectionssubstantially onA several .viewslindicateltheisamemarts.

-f-Thegsame reference .numeralsIthroughout'fthe f ,Referring,now tozithe ,drawing-:the improved with the fact that it is not `commerciaily ,prac-1 ticable'and economically Afeasibleftosort and f gradethe disks, make it im'p'rossilole fior 'a userofk such polishing disks to obtain a supiolygof` a 'subl stanii'ai quantity di disks having .the uniioriny other characteristics best suite'dfto" his needs. f i f It is, accordingly, a primary object oftheprespolishingr member-of .thekipresentninvention, ,preferably in the,.formiof a" disk,';com`prises -Jasuite` able iexibleebackingisheetr Il of r v.fibrous '1;rnate-- rial, preferably'in'theorm of .Woven textilefniateria-l .,offfsaikind havinggreatvstr'ength andflight overcome vthefo'regoing vand other defects offnat-` v ural eece polishing members, ,byprdviding what',

`mayfbe termedari artificial fleece or"imitation iieee `polishing member,jin which the quality and other characteristicsy'of thernembe'r are readilyVv controllable in the manufacturing process, thus enabling the user to` besupplie'd `in 'quan- 4,15, :Applied-.to one .fa-celuiV this44 vexibleibrous? tity with members having exactly theber fqualityiength, density, flexibility,`and V'oi-,herchar acteristics desiredi l Anotherobject is the'provision-bilan farti-` ci'al yfleece polishing "member which possesses all of the advantages Without the defects ofithe naturalA article, Y,and which issuperior tothe-nate' 40 ent inventionfzo retainI .the advantages,Sandtojf ,backingsheetizH and -icovering substantially the entire :surface :of such facef (except :fori the aldoori i hole -lk3 and afsmall clampingrnarginaroundthe? hole) is a mass of wool bers 2l in their conibed but unspun and 'unwo'ven 's'tate,-p'laced iriyclse v lateralforside .my side' relationship l'is-'each einer;

andi-in endwiseabutting-relationship to the back?" sive material, preferably a latex composition of a kind (well known initself) which remains iiexible after it dries or sets. trates the spaces `between adjacent fibers, for a short distance at thei-r ends next to the backing sheet I I, and serves to `anchor one Vend of each individual ber'firmly to the backing sheet. The latex also penetrates and impregnates the fibrous backing sheet, `fcenienting the individual fibers thereo'f'to eachv other, strengthening the backing sheet and forming a very strong bondrl between the backing sheet and the facing bers This latex peneby using only vtops of a given single grade in .the construction of such disk. Thus it is possible to attain a degree of uniformity in any one disk, and a degree of selective control over the characteristics of the disk,'far superior to those of the natural product; Because of the easily attainable uniformity throughout the entire area of the artificial fleece disk, it is perfectly balanced for highk speed rotation, Whereas naturaly fleece disks frequently are not properly'balanced. The flexibility and strength of the backing lsheet may be controlled by appropriatek varia- 2I. By Varying the thickness of the latexv layer;v

it can |be made to grip any desired length o f the inner end of each ber, to hold theffibers tothe@v backing sheet with the desireddegreeofstrength. Outwardly. beyond the surface of the 'layer of latex, the remainder of the length of `each fiber l is preferably unconfined and unrestrained ex cept by its contact with the adjacent bers`surrounding it, Ihefibers may be of; any vdesired length,-a lengthrof from-half aninch to an inch` anda half ybeingufoundsatisfactory, depending on the diameter of ther polishing Vdisk and the character of l service required therefrom@v The fibers are cutso as to be of as nearlyy thesame length as' practicable, so that theV outer or working face ofthe mass of fibersv is substantially fiat or plane, except, of course,A at the ymarginaledges' ofthe mass, where the internal lateral pressure of the fibersagainsteach other will cause the fibers near the marginal edges to bend* over, as diagrammatically illustrated in the t drawing.

Conveniently, the fibers Zfklmaref4 bersof the:

kind known asfwool topsg which ordinarily vare avallable'on the market in theV formfof unspun strands or `ropes havingadiameter of'fabout half an inch.y A considerable Ynumber of-Y such'n strands or ropes Vof fwool tops maybe used,H to make upthe fibrous face` of the polishing disk, the strands being cut oif tofrthe desired length,

either before or, preferably, after` they havebeen imbedded inthe latex layer v,23. The short cut-off length'offzay wool tops,strand forms what mayv Ibe called` an individual-tuft vorfbunch of fibers.l By varying the numberfof Wool tops strands. or; tufts which are used to cover vazgiven unit area of the disk, varying the spacing-'between adjacent strands or tufts, and also to some `e"xtenty varying the density of eachtuftzby varying' the lateral compressive force appliedl thereto,

thedensity of the fibrousl massonthe disk may, be varied and controlled, and fit maybe made even more dense than the most-densenatural product, if desired. f When a: disklfac'e of less than maximum density isdesired, Athe inner ends' made stronger' than natural sheepskin.

tions in the sheet, to secure just the right characteristics most advantageous for the Work lin hand.V vvForyexample, the, backing sheet may be -made of two orjmore plies of material rather than a single ply; when greater strength and less flexibility are appropriate, andthus can be The drawing of the illustrativeA embodiment shows a second ply 37| of the same material as the ply Il, cementedto the Eback ofthenrst'ply Il by means of a permanentlyl flexible adhesiva-preferably a llatex*'composition ,(ofa kind well known in itself) whiehiremainsflexible after it jdries or sets. The.,second'ply 3l, as indicated .diagrammatically, inthejbroken-away portion of Figrl,

f 'is cementedto the`A first ply lin `such position vthat the weft' and warp vstrandsof `the second ply lie atfv totheweft and yWarp strands of the first ply, thus greatly-strengthening the composite backing sheet by providing strands adapted to` resist tension forces in practically any direction in the plane of the disk. The material is further` strengthened by the adhesive used to f cement-the two plies to each other, which adhesivegisY preferably so appliedlas'to impregnate or penetrate throughY part of-thethickness of each V ply, at least partly cementing the `warp strands and. the Weaftvstrlands of each `ply to eachA other y at- ,each" crossing.:

lstrength ofathe ply..

lsubstantially increasing the Whether one or a plurality of plies' is used to form the backing ofthe disk, ineither event the of the individual tufts may be appliedlto vthe Y backing `sheet. ink laterally spaced relation to eachzother, butthe outer` or freeS-len'ds Yof the` tufts will spread outlaterally substantially into contact .with each other, Yusually producing an almost continuous lun'broken appearanceof theV face of the'disk. However, the' appearancegof the face :of thedi'sk frequently shows traces of the subfdivision of 'the fibrous masa/into individual tufts,-and the tufted arrangement is indi cated diagrammati-cally on a portionof. Fig. y1,

. Wool tops are available on the market in several `carefully graded valetiesgiffhe quality" of the fibrous faces' of the ldisks may ,be-varied andcontrolledvby using various grades of tops, while-the quality may bekent uniform through- Qutrthe entire area of; theface of any one disk arbor hole is preferably strengthened'and reinforced by an'r annular rnember33 having anl out-l side diameter relatively small in comparison to the ldiameterof. theplies Ilwand 3|, and made of material havingsome; degree 'of flexibility but nevertheless harder and less" flexiblev than the sheets I l and 3l, such as a thin board made from compressed. sisalY hempy fibers.

. This reinforcingply is cemented in'position around the `arbor hole, preferablytopthe front'face ofthe sheet H, by suitable ilex'iblead-v hes'ive, preferably the same flexible latex composition above mentioned It provides asomewhat firmerY clamping ,margin around the arbor hole, for Vrn`c untingthe polishing disk more securely betweeny the clamping nuts on the arbor; yet the reinforcing ply '33 is, of such small'diameter in comparisonv to that of the backingy members Il rllhe `construction above `described is foundin 'and flexibility practice'to `provide 'a particularly Satisfactory and yeilicient, polishing dislr,v capable of produc- Y tion in largev quantities to meetv exact specifications and standards, th-us overcoming previous drawbacks of inability to :secure substantial numbersr of natural fleece polishing disks conf forming to desiredstandards. Moreover, intheVA foregoing construction the Wool tops'fibers formf' ing the polishing faceV are found to stand up' in an erect pile or nap noticeably better: than-the lateral supporting Contact withv one another to form a dense polishing face, anda relatively thin layer of exible adhesive on the same side of said sheet as said fibers and tenaciously bonding' the ends thereof to said sheet, said sheet and adhering fibers having substantially the characterisv.tics of a natural fleece-covered sheepskin.

naturalileece of natural sheepskin, which has a;

greater tendency, in use, to flatten down undesirably. i

While one embodiment ofthe invention has `been disc1osed,it isv to be understood that the Ain-j` ventive idea may bevcarriedout in a number of Ways. This application is therefore notr to be limited to the precise details described, but is intended to cover all variations and modifications thereof falling Within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1,'A flexible polishing disk comprising a circular backing sheet of relatively thin, strong,

flexible material having a central opening for the reception of means for attachment to a rotary driving arbor, a multiplicity of sections of Wool tops assembled in approximately parallel, closely adjacent relation to one another and endwise to saidsheet, each of saidrsections comprising a portion of the length of one or more ,A slivers or rovings of Wool fibers forming one o1.k

said tops, said sections being of substantial length With the bers thereof arranged in` end`v Wise abutting relation to one face vof said backing sheet, said bers having free outer ends in 2. A flexible polishing disk comprising a cirt Y,cular backing sheet of strong, flexible, woven 10.

material having a central opening therein, a multiplicity of sections of Wool tops assembled in approximately parallel, closely adjacent relation to one another and endwise to said sheet in spaced relation to said opening lsoy as to leave an untufted clamping' margin about saidr opening, each of said sections,comprisingA a portionl 'of the length of oneor more slivers or rovings of wool fibers forming'one of said tops, said sections being of substantial length with the fibers thereof arranged in endWise abutting relation ered sheepskin, and an annular ply of flexible,

reinforcing material secured tosaid sheet by` said adhesive in thespace between said sections and said opening and concentrically with said opening for the reception of means for attachment to l a rotaryV driving arbor.

KARL r1.l SCHLEGEL', JR. 

